The generation of routes on a digital map between known points A and B as illustrated by FIG. 1 is well known. These known methods take into account various geographical data to calculate the best route that passes between these points, taking into consideration criteria such as minimising the distance travelled or the time taken to complete the route, or minimising the environmental footprint of the vehicle used for the journey. In such systems, the route may be required to pass through a number of predetermined geographical points. For example, in FIG. 2, a route is generated between two points A and D, passing through points B and C along the way.
However, in many situations, a user may wish to start and end at the same point, for example, in leisure activities such as walking, horse riding, running or cycling. An example of a circular route starting and ending at the same position is shown in FIG. 3. In these situations, the user may wish the route to take a certain amount of time to travel, cover a certain distance and/or pass through one or more points of interest. In route generation systems known in the art, if a user inputs the start and end point as the same geographical location, no route will be generated. At most, the user will be provided with some indication that they are at their desired destination.
Therefore, a method of circular route generation is required to provide users with a route that starts and ends at the same geographical location.